Friends and Neighbors: Kaden Adrian

If given a choice, Kimball junior Kaden Adrian would choose to perform over just about anything else, and recently he was given that very option, with an exciting twist.

Adrian, and his trumpet, will travel this summer to Europe for 16 days of performances as an Ambassador of Music through Voyageurs International Ltd.

Chosen, with several other students, by Kimball band instructor Kristi Hiles-Smith, Adrian was the only Longhorn to jump on this opportunity.

"Mrs. Hiles-Smith chooses the students that are the best in the band," Adrian said. "She nominated several others, but I was the only one that saw the opportunity."

Adrian, a junior at Kimball High School, will travel in June with approximately 200 students from across the state. They will perform in cities and small villages, according to the Voyageurs International Ltd. (VIL) website.

VIL is the Colorado-based company that provides this opportunity to students in more than 40 states and has served more than 160,000 participants since its organization in 1970.

Along with his fellow Nebraskans, Adrian will perform in venues in Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

"I am looking forward to performing for all the different people who come to watch. That is my favorite thing, performing," he said. "The sight-seeing will be great too, I have never left the United States before."

In addition to providing performance experience in world-wide venues, according to the VIL website, the musical ambassadors' experience abroad will increase their awareness of the world in a fun and adventurous way.

Though he is excited for his first international opportunity and though he knows that music will always be a huge part of his life, Adrian said he is unsure what role music will play in his future. In addition to his passion for music, he said he also enjoys physics and math, making his future plans difficult to pin down.